Historic Envelope Valued at $300,000 Up for Auction

HONOLULU – A New York gallery will auction off what is believed to be one of three known surviving historic envelopes postmarked on the first day of the Pony Express.

The envelope postmarked April 3, 1860, is valued at $300,000. It is among 63 items owned by 88-year-old Thurston Twigg-Smith that will be sold Dec. 5 by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York. Twigg-Smith is the former publisher of The Honolulu Advertiser in Hawaii.

It estimates the collection's value is $2.5 million or more.

Twigg-Smith also will auction one of two surviving Pony Express letters that originated in Hawaii. It is valued at $500,000.

The Pony Express lasted 19 months, shuttling mail 1,900 miles from St. Joseph, Mo., to San Francisco.